Rain clears smoke, shows active flames from McDougall Creek wildfire

Much-needed rain fell around the Central Okanagan late Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

Lake Country was drenched shortly before 9 pm, while Glenmore saw some precipitation around the same time. Kelowna got its rain in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Pouring pouring pouring in Lake Country pic.twitter.com/WnwGNTGSKM

— Denise E (@SUPokanagan) August 23, 2023

Unfortunately, the same reports didn’t come out of West Kelowna, but radar did show that rain was falling in the wildland area north and west of the McDougall Creek fire.

Officials will likely have a more accurate update on that when they speak again at 10 am this morning.

The rain was welcomed where it fell and it continued to clear smoke and improve air quality in the valley.

The smoke started to lift earlier Tuesday and revealed some of the devastation from the fires, and the Central Okanagan is waking up to significantly improved conditions today.

Visibility is essentially back to normal and air quality is considered “good” and “low risk” in the region.

Environment Canada lists it at just one on a 10+ point scale, while IQAir says the US AQI number is 32, a massive improvement from the 400+ numbers seen in recent days.

As the smoke continued to clear, it wasn’t only the devastation that became apparent, as residents could also see active flames in sections of the McDougall Creek wildfire.

That included above Shannon Lake and on the North Westside, showcased by reader-submitted photos below.

Crews once again worked overnight on both sides of the lake and an update on all three fires will come at today’s 10 am briefing.

Here’s the latest size estimate for all three fires as of late Tuesday night:

• West Kelowna (12,270 hectares)
• Kelowna (790 hectares)
• Lake Country (370 hectares)